Climate Change, Climate Justice
4/30/07
"We can't all have the things we want and grow to a population of nine billion and continue to survive," Nancy Tuana warned.
climate change
climate change
Turning Over an Old Leaf
9/5/06
In the fossilized evidence of an insect's lunch over 50 million years ago, Peter Wilf can read the story of ancient climate change.
Double Exposure
5/18/05
In Norway, a good idea is called a "ping" moment. That's just how economic geographer Robin Leichenko remembers the fortuitous phone call she received from Oslo several years ago. On the line: her former Penn State classmate, Karen L. O'Brien, a senior research fellow at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research based in the Norwegian capital.
Melting ice important indicator of global warming
2/18/05
Surrounded by winter snow and ice, melting seems like a good thing, but, on a global scale, the melting of ice sheets and glaciers is a sign of global warming, according to a Penn State glaciologist. "The really big picture shows change in the ice and those changes look like what we get is a world that is a little warmer," says Richard B. Alley, the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences. "We currently do not include all these processes in the models that predict the global future."
Tipping the Scales
5/1/99
From a distance, Earth's climate is a simple matter of equilibrium. Eric Barron made this point with a single vivid image, of Earth from space. There was the mottled orb in high relief: sunlight and shadow, bright reflective cloud-cover and deep absorbing ocean, bone-pale desert and dark tropical forest. Balanced precisely between incoming solar warmth and cold, receiving dark. Yin and yang. It's when you zoom in a little that things start to get complicated.
Between Ice and Fire
12/1/93
Benjamin Franklin was the first to connect volcanoes and climate change. During the summer of 1783, he noticed "a constant fog" over Europe and parts of North America.
This fog was of a permanent nature; it was dry, and the rays of the sun seemed to have little effect towards dissipating it. . . . They were indeed rendered so faint in passing through it that, when collected in the focus of a burning-glass, they would scarce kindle brown paper. Of course, their summer effect in heating the earth was exceedingly diminished.
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C-NET to air Alley's presentation on 'Rising Seas, Warming Planet'
4/15/13
Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd at Research Unplugged on April 11, Penn State scientist Richard Alley covered the terrain of global warming, from Antarctic penguins and glaciers to economic pundits and policymakers.
Richard Alley to give Research Unplugged talk on global climate change
4/8/13
Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Penn State, will present "Rising Seas, Warming Planet: Lessons from Antarctica" at this week's Research Unplugged series on Thursday, April 11, at 12:15 p.m. in Schlow Centre Region Library's Downsbrough Community Room.
Large herbivores may buffer effect of climate change on plant communities
2/25/13
Whether existing ecological communities can persist intact as temperatures rise may depend as much on biological interactions that shape communities themselves as on the effects of climate change, according to a Penn State biology researcher.
Flow of research on ice sheets helps answer climate questions
2/16/13
Just as ice sheets slide slowly and steadily into the ocean, researchers are returning from each trip to the Arctic and Antarctic with more data about climate change, including information that will help improve current models on how climate change will affect life on the earth, according to a Penn State geologist.
Statistics help clear fog for better climate change picture
2/13/13
Statistics is an important tool in sorting through information on how human activities are affecting the climate system, as well as how climate change affects natural and human systems, according to a Penn State statistician.
Ozone depletion trumps greenhouse gas increase in jet-stream shift
1/31/13
Depletion of Antarctic ozone is a more important factor than increasing greenhouse gases in shifting the Southern Hemisphere jet stream in a southward direction, according to researchers at Penn State.
"Previous research suggests that this southward shift in the jet stream has contributed to changes in ocean circulation patterns and precipitation patterns in the Southern Hemisphere, both of which can have important impacts on people's livelihoods," said Sukyoung Lee, professor of meteorology.
Climate change had political, human impact on ancient Maya
11/8/12
The role of climate change in the development and demise of classic Maya civilization, ranging from AD 300 to 1000, has been controversial for decades because of a lack of well-dated climate and archaeological evidence. But an international team of archaeologists and earth science researchers has compiled a precisely dated, high-resolution climate record of 2,000 years that shows how Maya political systems developed and disintegrated in response to climate change.
Probing Question: How does melting Arctic ice affect weather and climate?
11/1/12
By June 2012, Arctic sea ice had already melted to its lowest extent for the month since satellite record keeping began in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. How does this affect our weather in the short term and climate in the long term? In several ways, says Andrew Carleton, a Penn State professor of physical geography who specializes in studying sea ice and climate change.
Students get unique environmental research experience in Spain
10/25/12
Several students from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences recently studied the potential effects of global climate change in Spain. For the last two years, eight students journeyed from central Pennsylvania to Madrid to conduct research in the field of global climate change ecology. Enrolled in the Ecological Research in Spain course, at the end of the spring semester they traveled to Europe and stayed for almost two months, working with groups of Spanish researchers.
This week's Research Unplugged to focus on weather and global climate
10/15/12
Research Unplugged continues its fall season of lively community discussions with Penn State researchers with a program this Thursday, Oct. 18, by Jenni Evans on "Stormy Weather: Hurricanes, Monsoons and Global Climate Change."
DNA analysis aids in classifying single-celled algae
9/19/12
For nearly 260 years -- since Carl Linnaeus developed his system of naming plants and animals -- researchers classified species based on visual attributes like color, shape and size. In the past few decades, researchers found that sequencing DNA can more accurately identify species. A group of single-celled algae -- Symbiodinum -- that live inside corals and are critical to their survival -- are only now being separated into species using DNA analysis, according to biologists.
Bear Crossing
9/5/12
An analysis of newly sequenced polar bear genomes is providing important clues about the species' evolution, suggesting that climate change and genetic exchange with brown bears helped create the polar bear as we know it today. The international study, led by researchers at Penn State and the University at Buffalo, found evidence that the size of the polar bear population fluctuated with key climatic events over the past million years, growing during periods of cooling and shrinking in warmer times.
Plants' fungi allies may not help store climate change's extra carbon
8/30/12
Fungi found in plants may not be the answer to mitigating climate change by storing additional carbon in soils as some previously thought, according to an international team of plant biologists.
Research focused on underground solution to greenhouse gas challenges
5/17/12
While many are focusing on atmospheric solutions to reduce greenhouse gases, some researchers are setting their sights on the ground -- deep underground. Li Li, an assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering at Penn State, is investigating geologic carbon sequestration (storing carbon dioxide deep beneath the surface of the Earth) as a way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Free documentary on climate change to be screened during Earth Week
4/12/12
As part of Earth Day/Earth Week activities at Penn State, which run from April 16 to 25, there will be a free screening of "The Island President," an award-winning documentary that follows former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed as he tries to shine a spotlight on the issue of climate change. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25, at the State Theatre in downtown State College.